Mapping Northern Ireland’s Picture House Past

The 1930s witnessed a cinema boom in Northern Ireland. By the end of the decade over 40 ‘picture houses’ existed in the city of Belfast alone, with an additional 100+ across the rest of Northern Ireland. But today, the Strand Arts Centre  in East Belfast is the only surviving, operational 1930s cinema in NI.

The Strand Arts Centre is currently engaged in a heritage project, funded by The National Lottery Heritage Fund, to preserve and promote NI's picture house past. The Strand Arts Centre would like a team of students to utilise ArcGis to create interactive resources that will engage a wide audience with NI’s picture house heritage. This will involve: (1)  reviewing and refining an existing ‘Cinematic Tour of Belfast’ map  (see: https://www.arcgis.com/home/item.html?id=ab4de4af627348e2a83d800b216d3faf ; and (2) researching and creating a StoryMap on a specific theme or covering a specific location of NI’s picture house past (e.g. cinemas of 1930s, cinemas of east Belfast, cinemas of west Belfast, etc). The outputs have the potential to be used both in-venue and as a valuable tool in the Strand's education and out-reach programme.

Students will have access to a wide range of research and archive material held by the Strand Arts Centre and will receive guidance and advice from the Strand's Heritage Officer.

How could the Belfast Hills use Nature Based Solutions to mitigate against potential impacts of climate change on the city of Belfast, drawing upon examples of best practice from around the world.

Nature-based solutions are the sustainable management and use of natural features and processes to tackle socio-environmental issues.  The Met Office have produced a ‘Belfast Climate Pack’ which outlines some of the potential impacts of Climate change to the city:

https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/binaries/content/assets/metofficegovuk/pdf/research/spf/belfast-city-pack_august-2022.pdf

Within the Belfast City Council Climate Plan, they state “The effects of climate change present the greatest economic, social and environmental risks to the city of Belfast, in this decade and beyond”. BHP would like a team of students to research which Nature Based Solutions could apply to the Belfast Hills to mitigate against these potential impacts of climate change on the city, drawing upon examples of good practice from around the world (e.g. members of the Resilient Cities network).

Using GIS (or even Google Maps Street View), predict the potential loss of Ash trees to Ash dieback and suggest new planting proposals to mitigate these losses.

It is estimated that Ash dieback will kill up to 80% of ash trees across the UK. At a cost of billions, the effects will be staggering. It will change the landscape forever and threaten many species which rely on ash. Ash dieback (Hymenoscyphus fraxineus) is a fungus which originated in Asia. It doesn’t cause much damage on its native hosts of the Manchurian ash (Fraxinus mandshurica) and the Chinese ash (Fraxinus chinensis) in its native range. However, its introduction to Europe about 30 years ago has devastated the European ash (Fraxinus excelsior) because our native ash species did not evolve with the fungus and this means it has no natural defence against it. The disease tends to kill saplings and young trees fairly rapidly, but it may take 20-30 years for mature trees to succumb.

Ash dieback was first observed on Cave Hill in 2014 and has now been observed in most woodlands within the Belfast Hills area.  We are still in relatively early stages of the epidemic, so we won’t know the full impact for a while. The slow progress of the disease exacerbates this, hence the need to predict the potential loss of ash trees along with the visual impact that this would have on the landscape and what new planting should happen to mitigate these losses.

Engaging Young People About Nature Conservation

How best to communicate to young people aged 11- 25 on the Belfast Hills, our youth projects, and the benefits of nature to their mental health and wellbeing. BHP has a project in partnership with Ulster Wildlife called Wild Youth, funded by the National Lottery Community Fund. It involves working with young people aged 11-25, delivering wild wellbeing sessions in and around the Belfast Hills, using nature as a tool to connect with young people and increase their physical and mental health, incorporating the 5 steps to wellbeing. 

We have been working with young people for a number of years now, and this has been very successful. However, we want to do more and make sure as many young people are benefiting from our work as possible. Particularly in light of recent research and the impact of the covid-19 pandemic. Before covid, a report published by The Prince’s Trust in April 2018, found that almost half of young people in Northern Ireland say they have experienced a mental health problem; with two-thirds of young people regularly feeling stressed and a third going as far to say that they often feel hopeless. Also, according to university research for the BBC in 2018, levels of loneliness are highest among 16-24 year olds, with 40 per cent saying they often, or very often, feel it.

Current research is now suggesting that the covid-19 pandemic has dramatically exacerbated an already worrying picture of young people’s mental health. This is something that needs to be addressed, and it is the hope of the Belfast Hills Partnership that our work can help. Therefore, have a look at how we currently communicate to 11-25 year olds, is this effective? We imagine a big part of this project will involve the use of social media, and we are particularly keen to communicate with 16-24 year olds classified as ‘hard to reach’, or those ‘not in employment, education or training’ (NEETs).

By researching case study material of things that have worked well elsewhere, we hope that you will be able to recommend innovative ways to increase the amount of young people we work with, and those engaging in the Belfast Hills.

Barriers to Active Travel

Belfast City Council would like a team of students to create a map within the Belfast City Council boundaries: identifying existing Active Travel projects such as Active Travel Hubs and covered cycle stands; identifying barriers to Active Travel such as gates to public parks; and providing ideas/projects how to overcome these barriers. Active travel and connectivity are strategic priorities for Belfast, identified within the Belfast Agenda, underpinned within A Bolder Vision. 

There is a need to address connectivity and active travel from and to the city core right across the city to provide access for communities to key destinations and facilities.  The proposed travel enablers the team of students develop should align to a number of existing strategies / policies:  Belfast Agenda: Providing sustainable and active modes of transport, addressing health inequalities; Belfast City Centre Regeneration and Investment Strategy (BCCRIS): Create a green, walkable, cyclable centre; A Bolder Vision: prioritising walking, cycling, and promoting wellbeing for all; Making Belfast an Active City: Belfast Cycling Network 2021: reimagining and reshaping our spaces to make proper provision for cycling to help build a better future that delivers more our citizens socially, economically delivering greener, cleaner, and healthier communities; NI Changing a Gear Strategy: The project will directly contribute to the “Build” pillar of Strategy in that it will provide appropriate infrastructure, design, cycle parking and safety; Building a Better Future: Regional Development Strategy 2035 (RDS)- notes the importance of reducing greenhouse gases, including through increase in walking and cycling; Belfast Metropolitan Transport Plan (BMTP, 2004)- supported greater levels of walking and cycling.

The project should strategically identify a number of interrelated projects as “Active Travel Projects”. Collectively they will form a compelling programme of small-scale catalytic interventions to support citizens to have the freedom and confidence to travel by bicycle for everyday journeys. There are a number of improvements required to continue to enhance active travel infrastructure within the city to make walking and cycling more attractive and safer for the citizen.

The objective of this project is to remove barriers in the first instance and open up areas for safer cycling. The project should also propose innovative ideas how to make Active Travel more attractive for a wide range of people.

Green Corridor from the City Centre into the Belfast Hills

Proposal: Exploring the potential of creating a green corridor from the City Centre through the Shankill Road, Woodvale Park and Glencairn Road:

• Identifying stepping stones and local attraction along this corridor and propose how to improve and enhance them
• Identify existing opportunity spaces as well as potential new spaces
• Maximise the connectivity into adjacent neighbourhoods
• Look at best practice from other countries and propose how to transfer elements into the Greater Shankill area

Background: The Council has a long-standing aspiration to create Greenways connections throughout the city into the surrounding communities.

BCC has also the aspiration to make the Belfast Hills more accessible for everyone and is working with the National Trust and other stakeholders to improve different routes through the hills and the access points to get to those routes.

The Greater Shankill area is centrally located (Agnes Street is 1.5km away from City Hall) but feels disconnected from the city centre.

The political and cultural identity of the Greater Shankill area presents both advantages and challenges. Tourist buses driving through the area, but they don’t stop.

It is important to articulate a comprehensive vision for the open spaces of the Greater Shankill, capturing the benefits of linking existing and potential spaces and capitalising on their respective strengths. This broader approach will also aim to maximise the potential for connectivity with the adjacent neighbourhoods, including Glencairn and Highfield and provide opportunities to deliver health, educational and environmental benefits to a large number of people.

Greenways & Access to the Hills

Proposal: Creating a map within the Belfast City Council boundaries:

• Highlighting all existing Greenways/open spaces/path connections and access points to the hills
• Showing plans and ideas of BCC, other relevant departments and organisation (such as Department for Infrastructure – Cycling Unit, Sustrans, National Trust, Belfast Hills Partnership)
• showing how they are connected/interrelated
• identifying the gaps between existing connections especially at the access points to the hills
• propose how to fill these gaps

Background: The Council has a long-standing aspiration to create Greenways connections throughout the city into the surrounding communities.

Sustainable transport is a key element of the Belfast Agenda under the City Development priority with a stretch goal to increase the use of sustainable transport by 15 per cent by 2021. A number of key infrastructure projects are currently in place to help achieve this stretch goal including the £150 million Belfast Transport Hub and the Belfast Glider system.

As part of the sustainable transport plan for achieving our stretch goal in the Belfast Agenda, we have committed to supporting walking and cycling as sustainable modes of transport, improving the city’s pedestrian routes and cycling infrastructure.

BCC has also the aspiration to make the Belfast Hills more accessible for everyone and is working with the National Trust and other stakeholders to improve different routes through the hills and the access points to get to those routes.

As a City, one of Belfast’s best natural attributes is its surrounding hills and landscape. The Cavehill and Divis mountains offer spectacular views of the city that visitors and Belfast residents flock to all year around to enjoy.

More so now than ever before, locations like Divis mountain offers space for outdoor recreation and essential health and well-being. The Council wants to work with partners to develop a plan which is respectful of the natural environment and surrounding area but also supports the increased demand for user facilities in the Belfast Hills.

The Council received funding from Peace Plus to deliver three routes in the Belfast Hills.

Parks and Open Space Improvements

Proposal: Exploring the parks and open spaces throughout the city and how they can be accessed and used

• Identifying the locations of the open spaces and areas with a lack of open spaces
• Explore the benefits of the surrounding communities with access to the open spaces/disbenefits where there is a lack of access
• Research different types of open spaces and their qualities and ease of access
• Are there restrictions of access in certain areas? How can the access be improved?
• Look at best practice from other countries and compare with Belfast

Background: Green infrastructure provides a wide range of health, economic, social, environmental and cultural benefits that help to make Belfast more sustainable and liveable. The city’s landscape setting and natural environment are some of its key strengths and we have to ensure we maximise their benefits.

However, there is an imbalance of good quality open space across the city and not everyone has equal access to those spaces.

The Belfast Agenda sets out a shared vision and commitment across the Public, Private and Community & Voluntary Sectors to create a better quality of life for all.

The quality of open space has a direct relationship with how people feel about a place. Where people perceive local open spaces as high quality, they are generally more satisfied with their neighbourhood, and are likely to feel safer, more secure and become more active. This reinforces a sense of place and creates opportunities for socialising and local events. With increased activity there is more natural surveillance which in turn helps to reduce levels of anti-social behaviour (ASB).

Access to, within and between our open spaces is paramount; we have to make sure they are inclusive to all, including people with a range of mobility, physical, sensory and cognitive impairments.

Partner with Us:  Accelerating Change & Making a Lasting Impact on the Environment & Society

The United Nation's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)  seek to end poverty through strategies that improve health and education, reduce inequality, spur economic growth, tackle climate change and work to preserve our oceans and forests.  Their purpose is to lay out a path for securing a sustainable, resilient, and stable environment for all.  The SDGs have become the common language of sustainability and the role of private and public sector organisations is key to making progress in this direction.

It is increasingly common for private and public sector organisations to develop Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) policies and objectives in order to be seen to be considering the positive and negative impacts of their activities on the environment and society.  These ESG policies and objectives are structured around short-term and long-term environmental and social goals that are often explicitly aligned to the SDGs, requiring the organisations to engage with wider stakeholders and regularly report on progress. The setting of an Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Strategy is seen as a way for an organisation to demonstrate that it is an environmentally and socially responsbile one. An effective ESG Strategy highlights a responsible approach to climate change, stakeholder wellbeing and governance.

Habitat for Humanity (HFH) Ireland is a charity that works towards shaping a world where everyone has a decent, affordable and durable place to live.  It is an advocate for affordable housing, promoing dignity and hope, through sustainable and transformational development initiatives. HFH Ireland works locally to help build strong, vibrant communities, while at the same time also raising funds to support partner programmes around the world.  These partnerships are focused on: peace building; orphans and vulnerable children; water and sanitation; the impacts of urbanisation on vulnerable communities; and disaster response and mitigation.

Habitat for Humanity Ireland would like a team of students to research and identify which private and public sector organisations in Northern Ireland have embraced the UN's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and in particular developed related Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) strategies. HFH Ireland is also interested in better understanding how HFH's programmes align with these ESG strategies.  The charity would like recommendations on how to build stronger partnerships with a range of local private and public sector organisations by signposting how HFH's programmes align with local organisations' ESG strategies.

This research project will likely provide opportunities to further develop skills and experience in desktop research (researching organisations' websites, public relations materials, corporate strategies and management structures), social surveys (of organisations' public relations or investor relations departments), and semi-structured interviews (with senior personnel who are responsible for implementing ESG strategies).  Your goal will be to produce evidence-based recommendations for HFH Ireland to take forward in building stronger partnerships with private and public sector organisations in Northern Ireland.

Connecting lived experience with global issues to eradicate extreme poverty & preventable disease

The ONE Campaign is an advocacy and lobbying organization focused on eradicating extreme poverty and preventable disease, particularly in Africa. We have a global presence, with offices in Senegal, Nigeria, and South Africa, and staff across Europe and North America. While ONE has historically focused on a range of issues – COVID-19 vaccine access, transparency and accountability, and girls’ education – we are currently laser-focused on unlocking transformative financing to reduce poverty and preventable disease in sub-Saharan Africa. ONE’s unique value is bringing clarity to complex issues, and deploying global non-partisan connectivity, credibility, and creativity to convince policymakers to invest money in ending poverty and preventable disease.

To help achieve ONE’s promise, our Global Policy Team delivers industry-leading analysis featured on our platform, data.one.org. Our work and analysis typically focus on a global level, like compelling G7 countries to commit to transformative World Bank reform. However, we are increasingly seeing the value in identifying local case studies that exemplify the need for policy shifts at a global level. This is important because it humanizes our issues, and helps make them feel personal, urgent, and actionable to the average person, no matter where they live.

ONE would greatly benefit from a team of students from Queen’s University Belfast conducting individual research and interviews that could surface evocative case studies to augment our policy analysis and storytelling. The project team would be asked to:

1. Participate in a learning session with Micaela Iveson, Policy & Projects Manager at ONE, to learn more about our issues and how we see ourselves using this work. Micaela is also an experienced storyteller and public speaker, who will also use this time to instruct students on combining data and case studies to tell a clear and compelling story.
2. Research avenues for local case studies that connect back to our overarching policy agendas.
3. Speak (via Zoom) with partners in African countries to understand their context of poverty and identify what stories could be shared.
4. Craft a 1-page brief on the issue with relevant citations, accompanied by a prototype social media asset. Examples include:
1. An X/Twitter thread
2. A TikTok or Instagram reels video
3. An Instagram carousel with designed images

Project outcomes would include:

1. Concrete examples of how ONE’s issues have local impact, helping us “package” our issues in an engaging way.
2. Draft assets that can inform ONE’s global campaigning efforts and brand-building.
3. Students will develop: research and interview skills; storytelling skills; a deeper understanding of the lived experiences of people facing extreme poverty and inequality.

Place-based Urban Regeneration: Understanding the Impact on our Staff of Supporting Those in Crisis

EBM (East Belfast Mission) is a faith-based (Methodist) charity based within one of the most economically and socially deprived communities in Northern Ireland.  It developed the Skainos Centre, an urban regeneration initiative in inner East Belfast, that provides shared space for community transformation and renewal.

Its projects include Hosford Homelessness services (homeless prevention, community homes, temporary accommodation and transitional housing), social enterprises (Refresh Café, Restore, and Recycle), community services (crisis support, community fridge, friendship circle, over 50s lunch club, tots and carers, homework club, creative arts programming for young people), counselling and psychotherapy services, support to help the economically inactive (Belfast Works Connect), and an Irish language project to connect divided communities (Turas,  Naíscoil na Seolta, Scoil na Seolta).  EBM’s ambition is to give the people of East Belfast the building blocks to build better futures and opportunities for themselves.

Frontline workers in the health, social care, social work and community sectors typically experience significant mental health pressures,  with relatively elevated rates of burnout, depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) reported.  The need to support the mental health of frontline staff was highlighted in particular during COVID-19, which also underscored the paucity of research on the mental health needs of frontline workers and evidence-based guidance about what support might be most effective in supporting them (Green et al 2021).

The expert guidance available then tended to extrapolate from other professional groups, such as military personnel, and draw from expert opinion.  However, frontline health, social care, social work and community workers operate within a markedly different type of workplace environment, living alongside their work, deployed into situations of crisis which are both dynamic and continuous (i.e. not time-limited), and are often not allocated sufficient time to decompress (Billings et al 2021).   There has been very little qualitative research exploring frontline workers’ own experiences and views of working in such environments.

EBM would like help with better understanding the impact on its staff, as frontline workers, of supporting those in the community with various forms of trauma and to help identify ways in which EBM can further support its staff.  The research project findings will be imperative, both as an employer, but also in helping EBM provide sustainable support and interventions in the community in which it serves. 

This research project may likely provide opportunities to develop skills and experience in desktop research (analysing reports and anonymised data), semi-structured interviews and social surveys. EBM will help in supporting opportunities to interview staff, volunteers and some of their key funders. The evidence-led report produced could inform EBM’s strategic plan and its recommendations will be operationally critical to the success of EBM, both in securing and maintaining grants.  In developing its strategic plan, EBM has committed to the need to be progressive and think differently. Your research can help inform this process.  

Place-based Urban Regeneration: Measuring Impact, Shaping Strategic Directions

EBM (East Belfast Mission) is a faith-based (Methodist) charity based within one of the most economically and socially deprived communities in Northern Ireland.  It developed the Skainos Centre, an urban regeneration initiative in inner East Belfast that provides shared space for community transformation and renewal.

Its projects include Hosford Homelessness services (homeless prevention, community homes, temporary accommodation and transitional housing), social enterprises (Refresh Café, Restore, and Recycle), community services (crisis support, community fridge, friendship circle, over 50s lunch club, tots and carers, homework club, creative arts programming for young people), counselling and psychotherapy services, support to help the economically inactive (Belfast Works Connect), and an Irish language project to connect divided communities (Turas,  Naíscoil na Seolta, Scoil na Seolta).  EBM’s ambition is to give the people of East Belfast the building blocks to build better futures and opportunities for themselves.

Evidencing the social value or impact of organisations of that work within the social economy (e.g. non-profits, cooperatives, social enterprises) is important, informing the strategic use of scarce resources, securing buy-in from the communities within which they work, and demonstrating to funders the significance of their social mission.  One popular approach to do this is known as Social Return on Investment (SROI) (Arvidson 2010 et al, 2010).  In essence, SROI centres on finding a way to calculate the value of social outcomes and then divides this figure by the value of inputs (i.e. the investment), coming up with a ratio of social outcomes to inputs. 

Proponents of this approach suggest it helps stakeholders, and funders in particular, better understand the social and environmental impact of the work of charitable / non-profit organisations.  This said, others (Gibbon et al 2011) argue the faith placed in SROI ratios can reduce the value of impact to an abstract figure that should be treated with caution, as a more qualitative approach is necessary to understand impact, equipping organizations with the knowledge to improve or replicate interventions.  Consequently, non-profits often combine stories of people being served by an organization with SROI indices to provide insight into the social and environmental impact of their initiatives.

SROI has been identified by EBM as critical for the organisation in recognising the benefit of donations on the local communities it serves.  It would like a team of students to help it translate the social, environmental and economic impact of its initiatives into an SROI framework. 

This research project may likely provide opportunities to develop skills and experience in desktop research (analysing reports and anonymised data) and conducting semi-structured interviews. The evidence-led report produced will inform EBM’s strategic plan and its recommendations could be operationally critical to the success of EBM, both in securing and maintaining grants. Your research can help inform this process.